With Bailey down, Cherington sorting through bullpen options

BOSTON -- At least all this didn't happen when it was too late to do anything about it.

BOSTON — At least all this didn’t happen when it was too late to do anything about it.

Nearly two weeks after losing hard-throwing lefty Andrew Miller to a season-ending foot injury, the Red Sox have lost hard-throwing righty Andrew Bailey to what appears to be a season-ending shoulder injury. Even if Bailey tries to rest and rehabilitate his injury to try to return in September, the odds are long that such a plan would succeed.

Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington and his staff now have less than two weeks to determine who will get the call to get late-inning outs. The trade deadline is July 31, and there is still the possibility of a waiver trade in August.

With the Red Sox in position to go to the playoffs for the first time since 2009, Cherington has to find a balance between the team’s long-term plan and bolstering the roster he has now. It would help manager John Farrell immensely to have another right-handed arm to complement Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa in the late innings.

“We set out before this year to accomplish something this year on the way to something long-term, and that’s what we’re still going to try to do,” he said. “We’re in it. We have to react to that and what’s going on today. We’ll do that, and we’ll work as hard as we possibly can to find solutions for this team.”

Cherington reacted to the Miller injury with a swift trade for Chicago White Sox lefty Matt Thornton, trading away minor-league outfielder Brandon Jacobs. Whether he’ll react similarly to the Bailey injury depends on multiple factors — not the least of which is how comfortable the general manager feels about his bullpen options.

“We’re going to give our younger pitchers a chance and see what they can do,” he said.

But there’s only so much time to do that — and it can be dangerous to put too much stock in only a handful of short stints out of the bullpen. Rookies Drake Britton and Brandon Workman have been starters ever since the Red Sox drafted them, and so there could be an adjustment period as they learn how to pitch out of the bullpen, especially in the major leagues.

Workman is slated to start Tuesday against Tampa Bay, but he was in the bullpen on Friday night and figures to be out there Saturday as well. Whether he makes his start Tuesday depends on whether he’s needed to pitch in relief between now and then.

But it’s still likely Workman — and Britton — will get only a handful of chances out of the bullpen before the July 31 nonwaiver trading deadline.

“We know the guys pretty well,” Cherington said. “Some of them have pitched in that role a little bit. Some haven’t. Just watch and see how they do, see how they react. If there throwing strikes, composure, doing the things they’re capable of doing, that’s what you look for. It’s a transition for anyone when they get to the big leagues.”

The same would go for Rubby De La Rosa were he to be converted to relief and called up to the major leagues. De La Rosa started Friday night for Triple-A Pawtucket, so it would be several days before he could pitch in relief even if that decision were to be made immediately.

“The path that De La Rosa has been on in the starting role has been a very productive one,” Farrell said. “We haven’t wanted to deviate from that. If it comes to the point where we’re willing to take a look at him in the bullpen, we haven’t made that decision yet, but we’ve talked about it.”

The injury to Bailey only serves as another reminder of the volatility of relievers. Bailey, Joel Hanrahan and Mark Melancon all have flopped in Boston — and that’s just in the last two seasons.

That’s why Cherington would prefer to find his solution internally if at all possible — and he’s willing to wait through the end of July if necessary.

“There’s ways to improve the teams in August, not just July,” he said. “We’ve done that in the past. We’ll see what comes to us, but right now, we continue to be focused on the guys that are here and giving them an opportunity.”